The Pied Piper of Hamelin, actually city tourism employee Michael Boyer, leads local children dressed as rats through a quiet street on November 19, 2012 in Hameln, Germany. The Pied Piper (in German: Der Rattenfaenger), is one of the many stories featured in the collection of fairy tales collected by the Grimm brothers, and the 200th anniversary of the first publication of the stories will take place this coming December 20th. Boyer, a U.S. citizen who has lived in Hameln for 15 years, and city children regularly perform a reenactment of the Pied Piper tale throughout the summer months. The Grimm brothers collected their stories from oral traditions in the region between Frankfurt and Bremen in the early 19th century, and the works include such global classics as Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel. (Photo by Sean Gallup)

The mummy of Yuya thought by some to be Josua who, after Moses, led the Hebrews into the Promised land and logically would be the father-in-law of Amenophis III, at Cairo Museum, Egypt. (Photo by Patrick Landmann/Cairo Museum/Getty Images)

Once upon a time a girl named Laura lived in Columbus, Ohio. She had a nice family, and got good grades, but it was always rainy and cold in Columbus, which was neither nice nor good, so she wore lots of sweaters and turned the heat up when her dad wasn’t looking.

Participants of the “Lady in red“ procession, marking the day of the Summer Solstice, walk on a promenade of the Yenisei River in Krasnoyarsk, Russia on June 22, 2019. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

A dragster supercharger hits cameraman Joe Rooks of Bowling Green, Ohio, in the back at the U.S. Nationals N.H.R.A. drag races in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Saturday, September 1, 1979. Rooks was knocked flat by the heavy blower from a dragster that turned over and disintegrated near Rooks. Rooks died en route to the hospital. (Photo by Chuck Robinson/AP Photo)

A moment of intimacy at the Sydney Cherry Blossom festival in Auburn Botanic Gardens on August 19, 2024. (Photo by Mike Bowers/The Guardian)

A photograph taken on November 20, 2021 shows the barberry berries with water drops after a rain in the garden outside Moscow. (Photo by Yuri Kadobnov/AFP Photo)

A British soldier from 3 Commando Brigade looks through the sight of his sniper rifle at Camp Gibraltar February 24, 2003 near Kuwait City, Kuwait. (Photo by Ian Waldie/Getty Images)